Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The World Championship team has been announced! The official press release can be found on the US Paralympics website. (For those of you that just want a list of athletes, it's at the bottom of this post.) The team includes some veteran athletes and some new faces which is always exciting.

As some of you already know, Worlds will be held in the States. Yes, that's right, World Championships will be held in the United States, in LA. So, mark your calendars, get your plane tickets and some out to watch the world's best para cyclists racing in our own country. Check out the LA Worlds website for all the details and schedule of events. (My events are on Thursday and Saturday.)

Monday, October 3, 2011

Track nationals are done and dusted. While in LA, I raced
the 3k individual pursuit and 500m time trial. Mentally, I went in to nationals
a bit flat. I’d moved to southern California two weeks earlier and wanted to
enjoy my new home instead of riding inside in circles. I was able to convince
myself, make a deal with my mind, that if I gave it my all on the track it
meant I could really enjoy my offseason. It worked. After a few sessions on the
tracks in San Diego and LA, I was able to rally.

My first event was the 3k IP. After a sub-par performance at
World Championships in Italy earlier this year, I was looking forward to putting
down a solid ride. I wanted a technically sound ride while taking into
consideration the track conditions and my motivation. In qualifying, I was in
the last heat of the day paired with Kelly Crowley. She’s had a phenomenal
season thus far and I knew it would be a good pairing. The clock counted down
and I came out of the gate. Any lack of motivation I had going in quickly
turned around when the gate opened. It was on. A quick opening lap was the set
up for a faster time than planned for but I was game. The lap counter ticked
down from 12 and before I knew it the bell was ringing- one lap to go. After
crossing the line, it was enough to qualify first and move on to the finals
that evening. Not to totally blow my ego up, but by all accounts- friends and
strangers- it was a very smooth ride. The final on the other hand, well, that
was a different story.

Photo: Rob Evans

After a quick lunch and recovery it was time to turn around,
and head back to the track for finals. I was pumped. This was my chance to
defend the national champion’s jersey and keep it for another year. The final
for gold was a ride off against Jenny Schuble. The plan was to do the exact
same thing as the morning session- just ride my ride. As the clock clicked
down, my excitement levels were growing. As soon as the gate opened, it was
like unleashing the hounds of hell. There’s a difference between “going out
hot” and “blazing f’ing fast” with the latter being something you’d generally like to avoid while racing 3000m. Well, that was
shot right out the window. Once you go out hot, as far as I’m concerned, you’re
committed. Just hold on and keep it going as long as possible. The first five
laps felt fantastic, I’d put a lot of ground into Jenny, then, it was like
someone attached a piano to the back of my bike. MMmmm not so good. Not good at
all. Shortly after this, I started hemorrhaging time. I was getting scared. I
wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hold on until the finish. With each lap, the gap
was closing- she was gaining on me and I was losing ground on her. It came down
to the wire at the finish and I was able to eek out a win by the skin of my
teeth. The evening session was almost the complete opposite of the morning’s
ride, which is frustrating to say the least. It wasn’t pretty but it was
certainly a hard fought battle.

Photo: Pat Benson

Our final event was the 500 (kilo for the men and tandems).
The event is only two laps so it’s sort of an odd, in between distance. It’s
long enough to suck but not long enough to get into any rhythm. The best
portion of the race was the first 10 meters. After that it was sort of, meh- not
terrible but not the time I was hoping for. Jenny-who specializes in the event-
won. A silver in the 500 and gold in the pursuit is a pretty good way to finish
the season.